The effect of industrial handling on micronutrients

The growing proportion of processed foods in the average daily diet in industrialized countries is considered as a challenge to the food industry, not only to provide more variety to the food assortment, but also to cope with high nutritional quality standards. Industrial handling of food therefore includes the monitoring of numerous operations and conditions from the agricultural source, through processing, packaging and distribution. Various types of food raw materials are processed by different kinds of technological treatments, the main objectives being to guarantee wholesomeness, taste, nourishment and convenience. New processing methods combined with the cold chain distribution reduce micronutrient losses to a certain extent. We shall examine some of the critical technological operations with regard to losses of vitamins and minerals in representative examples of foods like milk, leafy vegetables, potatoes, etc. and compare the classical food preservation with more modern food handling. With the increasing demand of pre-prepared fresh, refrigerated or frozen foods, the contribution of the maintained micronutrients is of interest, especially with reference to modern eating habits, i.e. lowering the total food intake and improving the nutrient density in the normal diet plan.